Seinfeld

SEINFELD BLOG

The Forgetting: Alzheimer's: Portrait of an Epidemic

by: David Shenk

: The Forgetting: Alzheimer's: Portrait of an Epidemic
See Larger Image
List Price: $14.95
You Pay Only: $10.17
You Save: $4.78 (32%)
Prices subject to change.



Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours




Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 616.831
EAN: 9780385498388
ISBN: 0385498381
Label: Anchor
Manufacturer: Anchor
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 304
Publication Date: January 14, 2003
Publisher: Anchor
Release Date: January 14, 2003
Sales Rank: 41443
Studio: Anchor



Related Items:

Editorial Review:

Product Description:
Afflicting nearly half of all persons over the age of 85, Alzheimer’s disease kills nearly 100,000 Americas a year as it insidiously robs them of their memory and wreaks havoc on the lives of their loved ones. It was once minimized and misunderstood as forgetfulness in the elderly, but Alzheimer’s is now at the forefront of many medical and scientific agendas, for as the world’s population ages, the disease will kill millions more and touch the lives of virtually everyone.

The Forgetting is a scrupulously researched, multilayered analysis of Alzheimer’s and its social, medical, and spiritual implications. David Shenk presents us with much more than a detailed explanation of its causes and effects and the search for a cure. He movingly captures the disease’s impact on its victims and their families, and he looks back through history, explaining how Alzheimer’s most likely afflicted such figures as Jonathan Swift, Ralph Waldo Emerson,and William de Kooning. The result is a searing, powerfully engaging account of Alzheimer’s disease, offering a grim but sympathetic and ultimately encouraging portrait.

Amazon.com Review:
First attracted to his subject by its horrific ability to destroy the human mind and body, journalist David Shenk ultimately finds reasons to accept Alzheimer's disease--and almost forgive it--in The Forgetting. Shenk describes his work as a biography, the life story of a biological outlaw that sends victims 'on a slow but certain trajectory toward forgetting and death.' But his illuminating portrait of this growing epidemic offers more than a basic chronology. Shenk begins with the disease's christening in 1906, when German physician Alois Alzheimer discovered mysterious tangles and plaques in the brain of a dead woman who in life had suffered severe memory loss and dementia. The tale unfolds to reveal a host of intriguing players: struggling scientists (the clever, the bullheaded, and the pharmaceutically endowed), politicians divided by opposing priorities, exhausted caregivers, and patients whose biological clocks virtually tick backward over an average eight-year period. It includes impossible twists: longer life expectancies and successful treatments for other diseases mean more cases of Alzheimer's will inevitably occur. Shenk's graceful synthesis of personal accounts (from Plato to Reagan) with a century-long search for answers and cures leads him to an impressive conclusion. Perhaps Alzheimer's disease is much like winter: 'Once it is gone, we'll face less hardship, but we'll also have lost an important lens on life.' --Liane Thomas



Customer Reviews
Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - Expanding the understanding of Alzheimer Disease
THE FORGETTING is an exceptional book on the subject of Alzheimer's. One follows the historical biography ... Read More


Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - Alzheimer's:Portrait of an Epidemic
I purchased this book after seeing it described as "remarkable" by Oliver Sacks, in his own book "Musicophilia". ... Read More


Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - The title haunts to tell of the forgetting disease
You don't have to be a science nut to be enthralled by David Shenk's book, The Forgetting--Alzheimer's: Portrait ... Read More


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - This book is tops!
I have read a lot about Alzheimer's but this is definitely one of the best. It is easy to read with good illustrations ... Read More


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - I love this book.
The Forgetting is a great book. I love the way it "introduces" you to Alzheimer's. Not so much scientific as human. This ... Read More

More The Forgetting: Alzheimer's: Portrait of an Epidemic Reviews

Browse for similar items by category:







Copyright ©2003, Mark Carey.